gade and part of George P. Buell’s, and posted them near Brannan’s left. Some of Van Cleve’s troops joined them, and fragments of Negley’s.
General Thomas, ignorant of these movements and of the disaster to the right of the Union army, had again heen attacked by Breckinridge and Forrest. They were again in Baird’s rear with increased force. Thomas’s reserve brigades, Willioh, Grose, and Van Derveer, hurried to meet the attack. After a fierce struggle the Confederates were beaten back. Thomas, expecting the promised assistance of Sheridan, had sent Captain Kellogg to guide him to the left. Kellogg, hurrying back, reported that he had been fired on by a line of Confederates advancing in the woods in rear of Reynolds, who held the center of our general line.
The men in gray were coming on the right instead of Sheridan! Wood and Harker hoped the force advancing in the woods on their new front was a friendly one. The National flag was waved; a storm of bullets was the response. It was Stewart and Bate coming with their Tennesseeans. They had finally forced their way across the ragged edge of the Federal right, and were following Hood. Fortunately Thomas had just repulsed Breckinridge’s attack on his left, and Stanley, Beatty, and Van Derveer had double-quicked across the “ horse-shoe ” to our new right. They did not come a moment too soon. The improvised line of Federals thus hastily formed on “Battery Hill” now successfully withstood the assault of the enemy. The Union line held the crest. Long-street was stayed at last. Gathering new forces, he soon sent a flanking column around our right. We could not extend our line to meet this attack. They had reached the summit, and were coming around still farther on through a protected ravine. For a time the fate of the Union army hung in the balance. All seemed lost, when unexpected help came from Gordon Granger, and the right was saved. . . .
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL N. B. FORREST, C. S. A.
Commanding a cavalry corps at Chickamauga.
GENERAL THOMAS’S BIVOUAC AFTER THE FIRST HAY’S BATTLE.
Three had been cut off and swept away. Long-street’s force separated them. He says he urged Bragg to send Wheeler’s cavalry in pursuit. Strange to report, no pursuit was ordered.
An incident of the battle perhaps contributed to the delay. When Sheridan and others were sent to the left, the writer hastened down toward Crawfish Springs, instructed by McCook to order the cavalry to the left to fill the gaps made by the withdrawal of infantry. I was but fairly on the run when Longstreet struck our right. The storm of battle was sweeping over the ground I had just left. Hastily giving the orders and returning, I found the 39th Indiana regiment coming from a cross-road,— a full, fresh regiment, armed with Spencer’s repeating-rifles, the only mounted force in our army corps. Calling upon Colonel T. J. Harrison, its commander, to lmrry to the left, we led the regiment at a gallop to the Widow Glenn’s.
The sound of battle had lulled. No Union force was in sight. A Confederate line near by was advancing against the position. Harrison, dismounting his men, dashed at the enemy in a most effective charge. Wilder, coming up on our right, also attacked. Wilder had two regiments armed with the same repeating-rifles. They did splendid work. Longstreet told Wilder after the war that the steady and continued racket of these guns led him to think an army corps had attacked his left flank. Bragg, cautious by nature, hesitated. By the time he was ready to turn Longstreet’s force against Thomas, valuable time had elapsed.
Brannan, partly knocked out of line, had gathered his division on a hill at right angles to his former position, and a half mile in rear of Reynolds’s. General Wood came up with Harker’s bri-225
THE CRISIS AT CHICKAMAUGA.
BY GATES P. THRUSTON, BREVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL, U. S. V.
On the staff of General McCook at tile battle of Chickamauga.
. . . When Longstreet struck the right, Rose-erans was near McCook and Crittenden. Seeing our line swept back, he hurried to Sheridan’s force for aid. With staff and escort he recklessly strove to stem the tide. They attempted to pass to the left through a storm of canister and musketry, but were driven back.
All became confusion. No order could be heard above the tempest of battle. With a wild yell the Confederates swept on far to their left. They seemed everywhere victorious. Rosecrans was borne back in the retreat. Fugitives, wounded, caissons, escort, ambulances, thronged the narrow pathways. He concluded that our whole line had given way, that the day was lost, that the next stand must be made at Chattanooga. McCook and Crittenden, caught in the same tide of retreat, seeing only rout everywhere, shared the opinion of Rosecrans, and reported to him for instructions and cooperation.
Briefly, this is the story of the disaster on outright at Chickamauga:	We were overwhelmed
by numbers; we were beaten in detail. Thirty minutes earlier Longstreet would have met well-organized resistance. Thirty minutes later our marching divisions could have formed beyond his column of attack.
But Longstreet had now swept away all organized opposition in his front. Four divisions only of the Union army remained in their original position —Johnson, of McCook’s corps; Palmer, of Crittenden’s, and Baird and Reynolds, of Thomas’s.
ley, then up the ridge. The enemy opened on them first with artillery, then with a murderous musketry fire. When well up the ridge the men almost exhausted w’ere halted for breath. They lay on the ground two or three minutes, then came the command, “Forward!” Brave, bluff old Steedman, with a regimental flag in his hand, led the way. On went the lines, firing as they ran and bravely receiving a deadly and continuous fire from the enemy- on the summit. The Confederates began to break and in another minute were flying down the southern slope of the ridge. In twenty minutes from the beginning of the charge the ridge had been carried.
Granger’s hat had been torn by a fragment of shell; Steedman had been wounded; Whitaker had been wounded, and four of his five staff-officers killed or mortally wounded. Of Steedman’s two brigades, numbering 3500, twenty per cent, had been killed and wounded in that twenty minutes ; and the end was not yet.
The enemy massed a force to retake the ridge. They came before our men had rested ; twice they assaulted and were driven back. During one assault, as the first line came within range of our muskets, it halted, apparently hesitating, when we saw a colonel seize a flag, wave it over his head, and rush forward. The whole line instantly caught his enthusiasm, and with a wild cheer followed, only to be hurled back again. Our men ran down the ridge in pursuit. In the midst of a group of Confederate dead and wounded they found the brave colonel dead, the flag he carried spread over him ■where he fell.
Soon after 5 o’clock Thomas rode to the left of his line, leaving Granger the ranking officer at the center. The ammunition of both Thomas’s and Granger’s commands was now about exhausted. When Granger had come up he had given ammunition to Brannon and Wood, and that had exhausted his supply. The cartridge-boxes of both our own and the enemy’s dead within reach had been emptied by our men. When it was not yet 6 o’clock, and Thomas was still on the left of his line, Brannan rushed up to Granger, saying, “ The enemy are forming for another assault; we have not another round of ammunition — what shall we do?” “Fix bayonets and go for them,”was the reply. Along the whole line ran the order, “Fix bayonets.” On came the enemy—our men were lying down. “ Forward,” was sounded. In one instant they were on their feet. Forward they went to meet the charge. The enemy fled. So impetuous was this counter-charge that one regiment, with empty muskets and empty cartridge-boxes, broke through the enemy’s line, which, closing in their rear, carried them off as in the undertow.
One more feeble assault was made by the enemy; then the day closed, and the battle of Chickamauga was over. Of the 3700 men of the Reserve Corps who went into the battle that afternoon, 1175 were killed and wounded; 613 were missing, many of whom were of the regiment that broke through the lines. Our total loss was 1788, nearly 50 per cent.
Gordon Granger was rough in manner, but ho had a tender heart. He was inclined to insubordination, especially when he knew his superior to be wrong. Otherwise he was a splendid soldier. Rosecrans wrote of him, “Granger, great in battle.”